> It's not fine to keep on using terms like "Obamania" [...]
There is not an Obamaniac list nor an Obamaphobe list -- there's the LBO-Talk list!
> Sometimes you gotta fight fire with fire, brother, call a spade a
> spade. What we do around here is political criticism.
The profound mistake of Charles' postings is not that he speaks about Obamaphobia in our list. It's that he speaks of it as if our list was static; as if no progress could be made -- as if shag, in spite of all, hadn't started to advocate for Obama with her co-workers.
However, I can no more disown Charles than I can disown the rest of the list. For years, here and in PEN-L, Charles -- as imperfect as he may be -- has been like family to me. With his continuous challenges to my intellect, he's made me better. He has strengthened my belief in the socialist future of the human race. Not once in the notes he's posted have I read him impute motives to anybody in derogatory terms, or treat list members with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad -- of this list.
(c) Julio Huato, 2008